DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metro
CareRing today broke ground on a new 16,000-square-foot Hunger
Relief Center at the corner of 18th Avenue & Downing Street
in Denver. The center, which will be completed in February 2015, will
provide fresh food access and self-sufficiency programming for
food-insecure people in the metro area. Currently one out of four
children in Denver is going hungry.

Founded in 1974, Metro CareRing is the largest hunger-relief
organization directly serving people in Denver. Metro CareRing has been
operating out of its current 4,500-square-foot facility since 1999, when
it first offered 22,000 services annually. In 2013, Metro CareRing
provided 133,00 services and educational programming within that same
and severely over-crowded space.

The new center will include a south-facing greenhouse donated by Nexus
Corporation that will provide an experiential classroom, employment
readiness training and year-round produce for Metro CareRing. Its
learning gardens will allow participants to learn best practices and
techniques to successfully grow food in their own homes and
neighborhoods and also afford an entrepreneurial opportunity to promote
Metro CareRing’s products for area businesses.

In the new facility, Metro CareRing expects to distribute more than 2
million pounds of nutritious food annually for people in the Denver
metro area. Sixty-two percent of the food distributed from Metro
CareRing’s Market is fresh – sourced from local grocery stores, farmers
and community gardens.

In addition to food, Metro CareRing offers healthy living, nutrition and
financial literacy classes, provides on-site job readiness training, and
is one of Colorado’s largest providers of utilities assistance.

Participating in today’s groundbreaking event were Mayor Michael
Hancock, Christian Anschutz of The Anschutz Foundation, and Kimbal Musk,
co-founder of The Kitchen Community.

The City of Denver has provided $590K toward the construction of the
center, and The Anschutz Foundation served as a lead donor on the
project. A Rooftop Learning Garden will be built courtesy of The Kitchen
Community.

While the new center is being constructed, Metro CareRing is relocating
to St. Paul United Methodist Church at 1615 Ogden St. For more
information, visit metrocareing.org or call 303-860-7200.